Although he was a regiment commander in Mondolkiri province during the Pol Pot regime, Sao Mang told the Khmer Rouge tribunal on Thursday that he remembered very little about being stationed along the border with Vietnam.
Time and time again, he uttered the words “I didn’t know” in response to questioning, and claimed repeatedly to have no knowledge on a wide range of topics relating to the armed conflict with Vietnam during Democratic Kampuchea.
Many mid-ranking cadres have claimed memory loss in court when recounting their time with the ultra-communists.
Mr. Mang admitted to having planted spikes along the border during sporadic fighting with the Vietnamese between 1976 and 1979.
However, Mr. Mang, who was born in 1951, claimed he had no knowledge of an “intense dispute” between the Khmer Rouge regime and Vietnam.
“Do you remember there being a rather intense dispute between Democratic Kampuchea and Vietnam over where the border line was and who was the rightful owner of this territory, of this region?” prosecutor Dale Lysak asked.
“No, I didn’t know,” he answered.
